These are stories of my travels around the world, saying good bye to London, cancer, eating junk food, day dreaming and becoming the warrior and adventurer I always wanted to be.

April 23, 2015

How to survive several weeks one hand in a cast part III

In part 3 the cast has been long gone. Not for long, just for three days, but it feels like a lifetime. The hand felt much like an alien at the beginning. Lighter, paler, less functional, a lot like something that did not belong to me or my body. I could not straighten my fingers. The skin was itchy and flaky
(think fish or lizard skin). Tiny red spots on the skin that was trapped under the case, but they are almost gone now after applying a lot of moisturizer. After three days I am getting used to regaining the function and occupational/physical therapy are very much recommended.
I still wear a splint at nights, because I am sometimes a restless sleeper and worry that my hand will be squashed between me and the mattress if I have nothing on. I can see how protective the cast was..
The cast stayed on for 6 weeks and 2 days. That's quite a short period of time for scaphoid fracture and few colleagues have had to have the cast on for up to 6 months. OMG. Seeing what condition my skin was in, I am just so relieved the cast is off and I hope it stays off.
The price I had to pay is no horseback riding for several months now, but I get to start a new job without the cast.
The skin under the cast, when it is exposed, will need a lot of TLC, moisturizer, some sunlight and more moisturizer. The bone, that is still healing needs no sudden movements or a heavy workload. Fingers require exercise and swelling, which I still have (just in the hand and wrist area now), benefits from exercise and a lot of water. I love my showers now and the gratitude that I have is enormous. I have two hands and it does not matter if they both get wet. The feeling of warm water on the skin is exquisite. Hand and wrist exercises are easier in water so i think swimming would be great too. I am an Aquarius, but don't like water and swimming, so that's out of question for me. Of course I'd love to take the risk and get on the horse, but so far I have managed to resist. That short ride of 5 minutes, while my arm was still in cast, does not count. Mounting the horse was ok, dismounting was much harder. So much can go wrong, especially on my lively speedy horse and falling off could be disastrous. No riding.. once again I talked myself out of it. Instead I go for walks and no longer have that issue of arm and hand swelling up and becoming so tight that I am forced to walk the hand upright all the way. As if I am at school and waiting and asking for my turn to speak.